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Travel Sickness Prevention


SALTWOOD
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My 6mths old Dobe has always got travel sickness since he was small.

I have asked the vet on several occasions and he says that he will grow out of it.

The back seat of my car has to have several layers of plastic over it plus towels in order for me to take my boy anywhere as he drools and vomits every time, even for short distances.

It severely curtails me taking him anywhere. I also must ensure that he doesn't eat for several hours before we go out so no spur of the moment decision to take him for a walk along the beach, etc. and going out for the day is out of the question.

Does anyone know of anything I can give him to stop the vomiting and the travel sickness.

I would really appreciate any help. :laugh:

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Is it true travel sickness and not caused by anxiety?

You could try Vitamin B6, ginger, peppermint, nux vomica, travelcalm, rescue remedy and I think there's a human medication that people have used on their dogs with success but I can't remember what it is at the moment.

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I had the same with my golden. The amount of drool was incredible! LOL. I never fed her the day of traveling anywhere. She often vomited and on several occasions even poo'd in the car. I tried Rescue Remedy and Blackmores Travel Calm Ginger, but neither worked. By the time she was around 1 i started trying 'Be Kalm' tablets and they did help somewhat. At least she didn't vomit any more... still drooled and finally did grow out of it at around 2 years of age. I'm not sure where you can buy 'be kalm', or even if they still exist as this was almost 5 years ago. I bought it at the dog store at the Melbourne showgrounds and you used to be able to get it from the online store: www.petnetwork.com.au

Best of luck!

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Ruby suffers from genuine motion sickness. Our lovely vet in Melbourne prescribed Ace for her, which I have to say helped enormously. We are potentially looking at another road trip and I have no doubt that our current vet would do the same. Some dogs just don't "grow out" of motion sickness. And some don't "grow out" of anxiety-based responses.

Either way, Ace works... :rolleyes:

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He doesn't appear anxious in the car. He is very calm really and lies down on the back seat sometimes looking out the window but it doesn't take long before the drool starts and then the up-chuck.

I don't know why the vets don't take it seriously - they just say he will grow out of it. In the meantime I can't take him anywhere much. Even the short trip to dog training can cause him to vomit.

What is Ace? It sounds like what we need. Is there side effects to motion sickness medication? Is that why the vet doesn't prescribe it?

And Sealegs - I guess that is a human motion sickness tablet?

Edited by SALTWOOD
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At 6 months old, he may grow out of it, but you wont know that until he does...or doesn't.

Acetylpromazine (ACP) is a sedative, that also happens to have antiemetic (anti-vomiting) properties. It does work well, but oral administration often means that the effects are unpredictable. It has a range of effects on the body however, including lowering blood pressure, dilating blood vessels (which can affect temperature regulation) and causing ataxia - which can potentially lead to problems especially with car rides in hot weather, particularly in a young dog.

There are other options which might be more appropriate if anxiety isn't really a problem, but you'd need to speak to your vet about those - namely medications like Maxalon (metoclopramide) and Stemetil (prochlorperazine - which is a relative of ACP).

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All very interesting to read - thank you for your replies.

Maxalon & Stemetil I am familiar with for human nausea as I am allergic to both of them.

I didn't know they prescribed them for dogs.

Armed with this new information I think I will try the vet again.

Edited to say:

Quick thought - Can I use a human travel sickness tablet for a dog? And if so what would be the dose??

Edited by SALTWOOD
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I used Travel Calm ginger from the chemist for Jonty, I used about 1/4 of a tablet, it did help to a certain extent, he used to be sick on a 10 min drive :rolleyes: , but then he managed to do a trip to Sydney & back at 6 months old without throwing up, I found the driving on straight roads helped alot.

He's only been sick once since, it was on a short drive of 10 mins to training. He still doesnt like the car (not even going out with us to training, park etc) but he has seemed to be able to cope better even though I dont give him the Travel Calm anymore.

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Would love more ideas guys as I am in this boat as well.

We have tried travel calm and it has not worked at all. Our kid is 17 months old, we got him when he was 13 months old. We think it has a lot to do with anxiety in our case so we have been taking him down to the park in a car (1 min drive) so he can associate it (the car) with good things.

I find that mine tends to look out the windows a bit and then starts drooling and finally throwing up. Its very distressing when a trip out to somewhere fun always ends up with us cleaning up a pool of vomit when we get home :rolleyes:

Am going to try Rescue Remedy next. Has this worked successfully for anyone else?

Our breeder sprinkled lavender and peppermint essential oils in the car once and he did not throw up on that trip (also had windows covered up so he couldnt see outside) so maybe that might help.

Would love any more ideas!

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Barks was hysterical. Foaming, frothing and being sick. Front or back seat

We would go to the shops and he was sick, training he was sick going and coming home.

Pure anxiousness on his behalf.

I tried feeding him treats/praising him - still sick

tried ginernut biccies - still sick

tried travel calm tablets - still sick

increased travel calm tablets - still sick.

No food before hand - still sick

food before hand- still sick

What cured him was having his girl friend in teh car.

I am not kidding.

He is in love with Bellas' Lilly. As soon as she was int eh car with him he was fine.

We no longer have any issues, he loves the car becuase he knows we go to fun places and we more often than not take Lilly. He is fine without her now but he prefers having her with him as it takes his mind off it.

You need to make it fun for him. I know each dog is different but try everythign until you find what works for you. You may find he will grow out of it, he may not.

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Lavender is fabulous for calming humans so I think it would work for furkids as well. For humans you can rub a small amount on your temples and it helps to calm and also stop nausea. Maybe rub some essential oil on his collar or have it on a hanky tucked into his collar (he needs to be able to smell it) and that might be a good natural way to help.

Not sure about putting it on their skin though - I now that you can't use it on babies skin so you might need to stick with it on something else.

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